


Lunacy of a Quiet Nature

by hiza-chan (callunavulgari)



Series: And When Time Comes Calling [2]
Category: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-20
Updated: 2012-04-20
Packaged: 2017-11-04 00:28:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/387643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/callunavulgari/pseuds/hiza-chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"They say that the full moon drives people mad."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lunacy of a Quiet Nature

**Author's Note:**

> Dark Month 2010, Day 5, for sometimesamuse. Dark Link/Kafei - "the taste of regret". Madness, moons, and Termina. This occurs in my And When Time Comes Calling verse, so you should probably read that first. (Or else the last three segments of it?) Can probably be read alone if you keep in mind that in this instance, Dark Link is the one who saved Termina.

The Clock Tower is quiet at midnight of the second day, always quiet before the storm. If Dark closes his eyes, he can almost see the patterns just beyond his retinas. The spikes and swirled colors of Skull Kid's mask, the curve of Romani's cheek, Snowhead during the Spring. The fireworks of a doomed festival; clockwork spreading out before him, gears and knobs and dials and he can never fix everything at once.  
  
"The moon is full," Kafei remarks, kicking his feet back and forth over the edge of the platform.  
  
He'd said the same thing once, hundreds of times really, when he had looked like a child and spoken like a man. This is a scene that Dark knows well, because he has played it before. The props and the cast are all assembled, now he just needs to follow the script.  
  
However, there are minor differences. Little nuances in the fabric of time that vary, that had varied, then and now, and he had but twist one to procure an altogether different conclusion.  
  
The boy had always stared at him, with eyes narrowed and too skeptical for their youth. The man within the child’s body was constantly alert, precise and calculating, never failing to remark on the oddity that was Termina's phantom moon. Always the second day, always midnight. Even if Dark did not join him, if maybe Dark was busy solving another puzzle, he would be there. Always. Staring.  
  
He almost forgets, almost falls back into that same exhausting script. Almost repeats, almost, almost, almost- he stops. His mouth is half open, a half amused "So it is, kid" melting like ice cream on the tip of his tongue. Dark stops, because yes, the moon is full, but it has been a month and this moon is not quite the same.  
  
He sighs, and Kafei glances at him, one eyebrow raised in presumed inquiry.  
  
"It is," he says instead, feels the words rattle in his lungs because the script has been tampered with, not a separate thing but _different._ He thinks that it might feel good. He watches the clouds chase each other across the sky, wants to add something, wants to change it _more_ because it feels so absolutely wonderful. But his tongue is tied, slick with spit and dry with dread. The words don't come.  
  
Kafei studies the sky as if it were an important document, maroon gaze critical, surveying each of the constellation- counting the stars. Dark wonders if the stars are different here, if the paintings of the stars are the same as those in Hyrule, the way that Anju is the same, and the carpenters, and the Gerudo women and---  
  
Kafei sighs. "It's been a month."  
  
He sounds almost disappointed and Dark thinks of the mask that was never retrieved, the wedding that never happened because Dark had not been able to juggle battling Majora and saving Kafei. By the time he'd realized, Anju was probably already far from Clocktown, firm in her beliefs that her drunkard of a fiance had gotten cold feet.  
  
Dark nods. A month. What has he been doing? Retrieving Lulu's eggs, saving the Deku Princess, all the things that he could not do during that last cycle of days.  
  
"The sky is kind of beautiful, without that dratted moon hanging before it," Kafei admits, nudging his shoulder into Dark's. Dark must say that he is rather inclined to agree. The sky is lovely.  
  
"They say that the full moon drives people mad," he continues, grinning a bit into the sleeve of his shirt and casting his other hand out, as if to indicate the non-existent crowd below them. A chill wind blows through the empty square and Dark shivers. "Does it?" he inquires quietly, because mayhap that is why he was out of sorts so frequently back then.  
  
When Kafei laughs, he _really_ laughs, head thrown skyward and chuckles echoing against the brick, resounding out across the barren square. Dark goes stiff, has to force himself to breathe because the echoes of laughter sound too similar to Majora's half mad cackle. "Oh, I truly doubt that the rumors hold any semblance of _truth_. I only remarked upon it because of last month's extraordinary circumstances."  
  
He chuckles again, the sound muffled into ivory fabric and indigo thread and glances at Dark from beneath violet lashes, coy, amused.  
  
While that is indeed reassuring, there is always a modicum of truth to every myth. Perhaps it worked differently with creatures of the darkness, mayhap the moonlight brought out the true madness. Showing him as the phantom, the shadow that he truly is.  
  
Kafei nudges him again, leans close and butts his head up against Dark's arm. The gesture is affectionate. Dark isn't entirely sure why this surprises him.  
  
"You keep responding to me with _questions_." A pause, and Kafei studies him with the same degree of intensity that he'd given the sky earlier. "What's wrong, Link?"  
  
Dark closes his eyes, lets his heart flare up in pain beneath his breast. Guilt, hurt, a curl of detached fondness winding its way up his spine, unbidden.  
  
That's not my name, he thinks, but when he tries to speak it, Dark finds his tongue tied anew.  
  
"You say so often that things will be okay, but I don't think you truly believe that, now do you?"  
  
The sky is beautiful and Dark cannot seem to find words.  
  
Kafei heaves an enormous sigh and Dark's bangs flutter about his chin. His bangs are dark, they are not blonde, and he cannot pretend any longer. Beside him, Kafei slowly climbs to his feet, stretching and yawning until his spine pops. He dusts the dirt from his person with great care, slowly, and eying Dark from the corner of his eyes all the while.  
  
"Well, I'll be going now," he yawns, hopping off the platform and onto the step below. Above them, the clock tower looms- stares out at them with its huge face and _ticks_.  
  
There are many things that Dark wishes to say. He wants to tell Kafei a story; a story of a land, a clock, and a monster. A story of how the clock looped and it's people forgot. He wants to say _stay_ , wants to confess that he was not born as all creatures are born, wants to say that he was bred in darkness and birthed in a sword of light. Created by a King of Evil in a time that shouldn't have existed. That there are many people that Dark has loved, but that only one person compares to Dark's love for _Kafei_ -  
  
He wants to tell Kafei that the sky is beautiful, that the stars make him feel closer to home, that Kafei's smile keeps his heart beating when all other things are dark. He wants to _tell_ him a story that doesn't seem to have an end.  
  
Instead, he calls out- reaches, grasping, when Kafei turns and blames his madness on the moon.  
  
Kafei's lips are soft. Slick with spit and the moment that Dark nudges up against them, he deepens the kiss- moans and winds pretty pale fingers into Dark's hair. The clock chimes, loud and booming above them and panic flitters through his gut, a half-mad cry of _Clock, clock, rewind the clock_. But Kafei is insistent, kneeling half in his lap and pressing their hips together, gasping and something is unraveling- time or the night or perhaps Dark's own heart, but when his teeth scrape up and over the edge of Kafei's bottom lips, he nips a bit too hard and Kafei pulls back, his eyes wide and his cheeks flushed red.  
  
They breathe together in the quiet, listen as the clock finishes chiming. Kafei sighs and brushes a kiss across his cheek before leaning in for another kiss.  
  
"You taste of regret, Link." Kafei smiles against his lips, and Dark has to pull back- has to catch his breath and breathe because he wants to grin, wants to laugh and sob and more than anything he wants to go _home_. He grins and can't tell if Kafei is amused or wary, and maybe he should be. After all, the moon drives people mad---  
  
His grin is bloody and his breath is short, so he licks his lips and shudders, says,  
  
"My name isn't Link."


End file.
